No verdict after second day deliberations over accused Boston bomber friend

BOSTON, Oct 22 (Reuters) - A jury deliberated for a second
day on Wednesday over whether a friend of the Boston Marathon
bombing suspect was too high on marijuana to have intentionally
lied to investigators about his role in the aftermath of the
2013 attack.

Federal prosecutors said Robel Phillipos, 21, repeatedly
lied when questioned by the FBI after two homemade bombs
exploded near the finish line of the race, killing three people
and injuring more than 260 in the worst attack in the United
States since Sept. 11, 2001.

Phillipos and two other friends went to the college dorm
room of the accused bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 21, after the FBI
released photos of the suspect three days after the bombing,
prosecutors said.

The men entered Tsarnaev's dorm room at the University of
Massachusetts-Dartmouth and removed a backpack containing empty
fireworks casings, prosecutors said.

If convicted, Phillipos faces up to 16 years in prison on
two counts of lying to investigators.

The jury in U.S. District Court wrapped up its second day of
deliberations on Wednesday and planned to resume its discussions
on Thursday.

In his closing statement, defense attorney Derege Demissie
said his client had smoked marijuana for 12 to 16 hours straight
that day and could not remember events the FBI had questioned
him about.

"The funny thing about memory is, we can't really tell
people what we don't remember," Demissie said.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Siegmann said
Phillipos had deliberately lied in four interviews with FBI
agents before eventually admitting by signing a statement in a
fifth interview that he had entered the dorm room. Demissie said
the statement was drafted by an FBI agent and reflected
authorities' version of events.

Earlier in the trial, an expert on marijuana abuse, Dr. Alan
Wartenberg, testified the drug could have impaired Phillipos'
cognitive abilities and memory. Former Massachusetts Governor
Michael Dukakis, a friend of Phillipos' family, testified that
the student was "so confused he didn't know what he had said" to
the FBI.

The second Tsarnaev friend, Azamat Tazhayakov, was convicted
in July of obstruction of justice, and the third, Dias
Kadyrbayev, pleaded guilty to obstruction in August.

Tsarnaev is awaiting trial on charges that carry the death
penalty. His older brother Tamerlan was killed in a shootout
with police days after the bombing.
(Editing by Barbara Goldberg, Bill Trott and Bernard Orr)